GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation which is specially designed to enable individuals to control their data as they want. It is now mandatory for all mobile applications to comply with GDPR standards in order to continue.
These are a set of modern rules that forms a standard and allows all the businesses to make the most of the opportunities of the Digital Single Market by reducing regulation and get benefitted from reinforced consumer trust.
According to data protection directive, the judicial, police and criminal justice sectors ensure that the data of victims, suspects of crimes and witnesses are protected in case of any kind of criminal investigation or law enforcement action.
At the same time more harmonized laws will also facilitate cross-border cooperation of police or prosecutors to combat crime and terrorism more effectively across Europe. GDPR intends to establish a standard set of rules across entire Europe that will enable the organizations to do business across the Union.
GDPR law applies to all the companies that collect and process data that belongs to the European Union (EU) citizens (Now it applies to all organizations globally)
GDPR law applies to all the companies that collect and process data that belongs to the European Union (EU) citizens (Now it applies to all organizations globally)
Not every GDPR requirements have been finalized, therefore many companies have adopted ‘wait and see’ approach. It includes – Safeguarding personal data about EU-based people (absolutely all of it), defining how you collect personal data, taking consents from users about the data you collect from them - user contracts and terms and conditions (on websites, for example), the of the people know, the right to erasure the data if user requires, portability of data, informing about data breach. Check out the other obligations rolled out by GDPR:
To preserve the privacy of the user (subject), organization must:
Organization on its part:
Organizations are required to check the risks to privacy and security and demonstrate ways to mitigate them. This calls to take
Data control is accompanied by data security. GDPR puts security at service of privacy. Organizations are required to implement:
No subject data can be kept for an indefinite period of time. GDPR permits organization’s to completely erase all data in case when:
All the subjects do not enjoy complete freedom to erase all data. An organization can as well retain and process a subject’s data in case there are any legal regulations, which are specified in the regulation.
Understanding what the law has got to say. Ensure that people are aware of GDPR. Decision makers are required to know about GDPR, must take steps to adopt it, then they are less likely to be fined.
Rights of people must be clearly identified and defined. Major ones are - right to access, a right to be informed, and a right to object, right to data portability
Create a roadmap to data recovery in case of any mishap. All the research, findings, decisions, actions and risks to data must be in one place
Determine if the data falls in the GDPR special category. Check who has access to various types of data and what applications process that data.
Check what the risks to various types of data are, review all procedures and policies. Security measures must be applied to production data containing core assets and then those measures should finally be extended to backups and repositories.
Investigate about any additional risks to data that are not included in previous assessments
As GDPR expands the need to display privacy notices, it is important to display such notices whenever personal information is collected from a data subject. They essentially inform a person who will be processing their information and why.
The fines for not being GDPR compliant are high. While it is now mandatory for a European organization to comply with it, this regulation is going to be globally accepted in coming times. Being a mobile app publisher, it is important for you to understand how you obtain, transfer, store and handle the user data. Taking time to understand how to secure user data and what further improvements can be done in order to have a GDPR compliant mobile app is equally essential.
Here are some key highlights that might be relevant to your mobile app and business in general and will ensure GDPR compliance:
This requires an organization to hold only the most crucial user data.
An organization is liable to respond to user queries about how their data is being used. Creating business contact information page on mobile app/website would essentially serve this purpose.
Users must be kept informed about the usage of data that was collected from them earlier. In addition to this, all the third parties that collect user data must be GDPR compliant. Privacy policy page for the mobile app must be updated.
Businesses must request the user explicitly before collecting every single bit of data like access to devise camera, gallery, headphone etc. Users must be required to opt-in/out of receiving push notifications and emails as soon as they sign in.
Any data breach must be informed to seniors within 72 hours. A clear step by step process must be established in case of a data breach that will keep all the supervisory bodies informed about it.
If the user tends to send their information to external services, it must be clarified as to where that data is being used and who will be in control of that transferred data. A data Processing Agreement must be signed with data processors to ensure this. All the third-party apps and SDK's connected to app must be GDPR compliant.
If the user wants their data to be removed from the website, it must be done. There must be an option to delete data (at least some part) or a simple contact form where the user can request to erase their data. Third parties dealing with users must be informed to follow this practice. This can be done by calling an API that allows for the deletion of personal data (made available by the provider)
Make it a practice to document all data that you collect by yourself or third party. It is crucial to understand the type of information you are collecting. A clear, concise and complete documentation must be made available to users so that they can refer it in case you are unsure about any of the GDPR policies. This will help ensure regulatory compliance and safeguard both the business and mobile app.
It is important to make use of SSL or HTTPS for external communication by every mobile application. This will ensure that the information will be encrypted while it is being sent from sender to receiver and will become non-readable by interceptors. In case your mobile application or website transmits sensitive data, it must be verified that it is making use of SSL for all connections from your application. Users must be kept informed about how long their data will be retained. It must be ensured that your app makes use of secure communications through SSL and HTTP, and also that SSL certificate has been properly deployed.
In case you are a public authority or your core activities require large-scale, regular and systematic monitoring of individuals (like online behavior) and if your core activities consist of large-scale processing of special categories of data or data relating to criminal convictions and offences, then there is a need to have a data protection officer on board. This particularly applies in case your website or mobile application processes a large number of individuals. This will essentially help you monitor internal compliance, inform and advise on your business data protection obligations, and act as a contact point for data subjects (i.e. your users) and supervisory authorities.
Here is a sample of what mobile applications look like after complying with GDPR
GDPR will renovate the way businesses processes and handles data. This came into effect on May 25, 2018, and has been made mandatory for all organizations across the globe, especially in Europe. If the company holds any personal information of the citizens like credit/debit card data, card numbers, even a photo of any citizen – all of them are subject to GDPR. Every organization that does not comply with GDPR regulations is subject to penalties and fines. If the organization is subject to DPA (Data Protection Act), it is likely that it is subject to GDPR.
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Controlling Data 
Breach of Notification 
Mitigating Risk 
Data Security 
Right to Erasure of Data 
